Checa wins Imola Superpole

Added on Saturday, September 24th, 2011 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments

Carlos Checa scored another Superpole win at Imola this afternoon, ahead of tomorrow’s World Superbike Championship double header.

A fierce Superpole session saw a tough fight for pole position, with Checa eventually heading the times as the session concluded, complete with a new track record with a time of 1m47.196 seconds. Jonathan Rea tried his best to steal top spot, however settled in second place at the end of the session.

Noriyuki Haga secured the third fastest time in the final session, also achieving the fastest time from combined qualifying. The front row of the grid will be completed by Brit Tom Sykes, on his Kawasaki Racing Team Superbike.

The second row of the grid will be headed by Eugene Laverty, with the BMW Motorrad Motorsport machine of Leon Haslam in sixth place. The final two positions available on the second row of the grid were awarded to Sylvain Guintoli and Ayrton Badovini.

A difficult session for Checa’s main title rival Marco Melandri left him in ninth place. The Yamaha World Superbike Team rider was unable to make it into the final Superpole session. The final top ten position went the way of Leon Camier, whilst Michel Fabrizio and Maxime Berger just missed out in eleventh and twelfth places, respectively.

Qualifying Positions, WSB, Imola:

1. C. Checa Althea Racing 1’47.196

2. J. Rea Castrol Honda 1’47.274

3. N. Haga PATA Racing Team Aprilia 1’47.442

4. T. Sykes Kawasaki Racing Team Superbike 1’47.468

5. E. Laverty Yamaha World Superbike Team 1’47.929

6. L. Haslam BMW Motorrad Motorsport 1’48.081

7. A. Badovini BMW Motorrad Italia SBK Team 1’48.234

8. S. Guintoli Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing 1’48.416

9. M. Melandri Yamaha World Superbike Team 1’47.781

10. L. Camier Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team 1’47.858

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